An EU aviation safety project is testing a camera-based passenger surveillance system intended to spot terrorists poised to rush the cockpit.
According to a report in the New Scientist, the European Union’s Security of Aircraft in the Future European Environment (SAFEE) project relies on video cameras being built into every …

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low-cost blocker

Anyone out there not too embarassed to admit to having watched DARYL? Thinking especially about the sequence where he steals some top-end US military aircraft then defeats the monitoring system by covering the camera lens with chewing gum. Perhaps the proponents of this idea could be forced to sit through it a few times.

There is an alternative

I got so fed up with all the crap at airports, I got my pilots license and bought a second user private plane. only 2 seats but no delays at airports, can use grass strips, 160mph cruse and over 50mph. Total cost of plane and license about the same as a small sports car.

Current measures don't work...

A couple of years ago, just after the whole 'no hand luggage at all on any flights' fiasco, I flew from Russia to the UK via Germany with a penknife in my hand luggage. I forgot it was there, thought it was in my checked luggage, so it wasn't even well hidden. So that's two rounds of security checks and they didn't find it.

Also, I never have to show ID when flying London to Edinburgh, I could be absolutely anyone on that flight. All the 9/11 flights were internal, remember...

So if they can't even get current measures to work, what hope have new ones got?

This just convinces me that..

... we have a secret government department (The Department Of Tw*tish Ideas).

Where will this stop? Are all our government ministers lined up with lucrative directorships in technology/comms companies, as i can't see any other reason for the surveillance mad country we have become.

Passenger wristbands

For your safety and to speed boarding, please wear this wristband boarding pass. In case of a terror attack the terrorist will be disabled by a harmless tazer shock from the wristband. Cameras throughout the aircraft will monitor for terrorist activity and automatically issue the signal to the wristband.

Terrorists

Does anyone in authority ever consider the fact that at least *some* of the 150 or so passengers on an aircraft might take exception to being hijacked by terrorists? Perhaps, they might even get angry enough to attempt to stop whatever mischief was being attempted.

Seriously, if the authorities were to encourage passengers to consider themselves part of the solution, rather than treat them as part of the problem, we might be more successful at this.

This past weekend, I saw people dutifully removing their shoes, half-empty tubes of creams and sunscreen being confiscated and did not feel in the least bit safer. One wonders if this silliness will ever stop, or how it could possibly get worse. While one restaurant dutifully gave me a plastic fork and knife (so I couldn't sneak anything evil onto the aircraft), the other restaurant gave me the standard food service stainless fork and knife. Must not have got the memo...

Testing ...

So how exactly can they say that testing was positive ? Did they hire a plane load of terrorists or a bunch of excited friends trying their best to act like terrorist ? I can just see them all overacting and hamming it up, derkah derkah. OR was the positive test that it didn't go off for a plane load of people who aren't terrorist ? "It didnt go off ! Perfect ! There wasn't a single terrorist on the plane, it works just like we designed !"

I am also becoming rather fed up with flying in smaller, more cramped quarters with surly staff.

@ Muslim Passengers

"A few years back (after 9/11) I was on a European flight sitting next to a Muslim gentleman. As the plane started to taxi for takeoff, he produced a copy of the Koran and, hunched over it commenced to mumble what I can only assume were prayers."

I saw this a lot when I flew to Europe and back (from NZ) a couple of years ago with Emirates - I wasn't concerned about the obvious Muslim passengers, who made up a significant part of the cattle class cargo, they seemed to be not that different to me - it was the complete c**kup that is Dubai airport and the significant possibilities of missing my connection that I was worried about.

Anonymous, because I confess to having listed to the readings from the Koran channel when there was nothing else on that interested me - Arabic is quite a pleasant language to listen to, even if, like me, you have no idea what it's all about.